Current methods of providing runway braking action reports may include large discrepancies from the braking action encountered by actual landing aircraft. In part, these discrepancies may be due to the differing systems and methods of measurement and observation currently in use for determining runway conditions. Runway conditions may be affected by the presence of contaminants such as water, snow, or ice.
Presently, pilots of landing aircraft may make runway observations and relay the observations to other interested parties. The inaccuracies of pilot observations result from pilots inadvertent distribution of subjective data. A pilot having a great deal of experience in landing upon contaminated runways may judge the conditions of a given contaminated runway to be of a lower risk to a landing aircraft than would a pilot unaccustomed to landing an aircraft upon a contaminated runway.
Other systems presently exist for determining runway conditions such as friction testers and Mu meters. These systems may provide some indication of conditions, but oftentimes are used in conjunction with ground-based vehicles. The presence of a ground-based vehicle upon a runway means that the runway must be closed from aircraft traffic.
A further shortfall of ground-based systems is that these systems are generally incapable of replicating the conditions encountered by an aircraft. In particular, ground based systems may not be capable of achieving the high speed of a landing aircraft. Additionally, due to discrepancies in weight and other factors, ground-based systems may not hydroplane upon a contaminated runway, whereas a landing aircraft may.
Ground-based systems may only have the capability to test a localized area of a runway, as is the case with a fixed-position, ground-based system. Mobile ground-based systems may have the capability of testing multiple runways, or portions thereof, but may provide stale data, as the runway cannot be constantly assessed by a mobile ground-based system.
While existing devices suit their intended purposes, what is needed is a method and system of generating and disseminating a digital deceleration value (DDV) by landing aircraft.